If you’re snacking while you type, beware: You’re going to want to blow those chip crumbs off your computer keyboard and wash your hands after reading this.

When HuffPost asked microbiologists and germ experts about how bad it is to type right after eating, they got real about how unhygienic this habit actually is. (Spoiler: It’s probably even more gross than you realise.)

“If you’re using forks and spoons, you don’t really have that much to worry about,” said microbiologist Jason Tetro aka “The Germ Guy.”

The problem is when you use your hands to eat chips or a portable lunch, and then use those same hands to type.

“Whether you’re eating something and then touching the keyboard, or whether you’re licking the keyboard directly, it’s pretty much the same thing,” Tetro warned. “Saliva is going to get onto your fingers, and then that will get transferred over to your keyboard.”

And when saliva gets coupled with food residue, it can be a match made in germ heaven. “So now you’ve incorporated food for bacteria to be able to develop biofilms on the keyboards, which is also gross,” Tetro said.

In fact, this common habit may be why you randomly start sneezing and coughing from an illness a few days later.

“You may be turning your keyboard into a bacteria cafeteria, because you’re putting food in there,” said Chuck Gerba, a microbiologist at the University of Arizona.

Tetro said that bacteria like Staphylococcus bacteria and E. coli can live for days on keyboard surfaces: “If you give them any bit of water or any bit of food, then they’re going to start growing.”

If you’re snacking while working in an office building, this can also be bad for your health because keyboards within offices are known to carry viruses. Gerba said in his virus tracer research, he has put a virus on a doorknob in an office building, “and the virus ended up on most people’s keyboard.”

What your fingers touch is what you need to watch out for.

“You pick up the virus on the doorknob, you put it on your keyboard, you go do something else, and you come back and you put it back on your keyboard to your fingers,” Gerba explained.

And this is an upcoming seasonal concern. Gerba said that cold and influenza viruses are the most likely to be lurking on contaminated hands at work, and these viruses will most likely be spreading through offices in September and October.

And your grubby hands may be making it worse. “You increase your risk because you created more exposure by contaminating the surfaces yourself,” Gerba said.

The good news is that there’s an easy fix. Ideally you would stop eating while typing, but germ experts know that is not realistic for most desk workers.

Tetro said he’s been trying to convince people not to eat at their keyboards for 20 years and has failed.

“Since I can’t get to get people to change their behaviour, just keep a wet wipe around ― it’ll help,” he said. “My recommendation is always to have wet wipes around for your hands or for your computer.”

Microbiologists recommended cleaning your hands with hand sanitiser or having a wet wipe after eating. That way you can wipe down your laptop and you can clean your fingers in between snacks.

Keeping hand sanitiser on your desk can also be a helpful visual reminder of what you need to do after your lunch break. Gerba said he has found that simply having a hand sanitiser within easy reach can make “a huge difference” in how germs spread in buildings.

So on your next snack break, remember to pause before you return back to work, and cleanse your hands. It’s a small action that will make a big difference this cold season.

“You have to look at your keyboard not as just a tool, but also as a possible route for you to get infected,” Tetro said.

A majority of UK adults say they’ve dealt with stress so intense that it’s left them feeling completely overwhelmed.

And chronic stress – worries and/or pressures that keep you in a state of high alert for long, continuous periods of time – has been linked to worse health outcomes, like sleep issues and higher blood pressure.

Sometimes, though, chronic stress lasts so long that it can be hard to tell it apart from “regular life”.

Thankfully, Dr Bijal Chheda, a consultant psychologist and founder of Nos Curare, has shared seven signs your body might give to suggest you’re dealing with the ongoing issue.

“Stress is a well-recognised trigger for tension-type headaches because it can cause the muscles around the scalp and neck to remain tense,” the psychologist said.

“Over time, the nervous system may become more sensitive to these pain signals, meaning headaches that were once occasional begin occurring more regularly.”

If you’re experiencing this symptom, keep a diary detailing when the headaches happen, how long they last, and what, if anything, helps. If the problem keeps coming back or don’t improve, speak to your GP.

Yep – stress really can mess up your stomach. For instance, the NHS said, it can slow digestion down.

“During periods of prolonged stress, communication between the brain and gut can become disrupted, affecting how the gut functions,” Dr Chheda added.

“The bowel muscles may contract irregularly, triggering cramps and leaving the stomach feeling unsettled.”

If this happens, she advised that diaphragmatic breathing may help – though again, see your doctor if the symptom doesn’t let up.

When we’re chronically stressed, “the body may remain slightly prepared for action, maintaining a low level of muscle contraction,” the expert explained.

“Over time, this can make it difficult for certain muscles to fully relax, leaving areas such as the shoulders or neck feeling tight.”

Sounds like you? Progressive muscle relaxation can help.

I know, I know: supposedly, everyone’s tired. But that doesn’t mean you have to accept constant low-level exhaustion, or that it’s normal.

“Under stress, the body shifts its energy towards responding to whatever feels threatening, and away from the processes that help it recover. This is why so many people under pressure find it difficult to fully relax, even when there is nothing immediate left to respond to,” the psychologist stated.

“Over time, chronic stress can become exhausting, causing even routine tasks to feel more physically demanding. Rather than trying to push through the fatigue, build short periods of genuine recovery into the day.”

Though settling down for a good night’s sleep sounds relaxing, Dr Chheda said these quiet periods can make stressful thoughts louder. “This may also keep cortisol levels elevated later than usual, making it harder for the body to shift naturally into rest,” she said.

“As a result, falling asleep may take longer, while small disturbances may be more likely to wake you during the night.”

Following a consistent sleep routine, avoiding screens before bed, and a relaxing hobby like reading can all help, she ended.

But if the issue persists – you guessed it – it might be time to speak to a medical professional.

We’ve written before at HuffPost UK about the higher incidence of premenstrual dysphoric disorder, or PMDD, among women with ADHD.

But according to a new analysis, it seems neurodivergent people of all genders might be more likely to face a group of conditions known as connective tissue disorders.

The finding, which is based on health data from 117 million US adults and teens aged 15 and over, found that the issues were “consistently more common” among people who weren’t neurodivergent, and “were most likely for patients who were diagnosed with ASD [autism] and ADHD”.

These include many diseases and disorders that affect the tissue that supports our organs, body structure, and muscles. They might impact people’s bones, ligaments, skin, cartilage, and tendons.

Per the Cleveland Clinic, “as these tissues are in almost every part of your body, connective tissue diseases can also affect you all over. They might affect one or two types of tissues throughout your body or many. They can also affect many organs”.

Connective tissue disorders can present as hypermobility (being able to move your joints or body parts outside of their usual range), Ehlers-Danlos and Marfan syndrome, and inflammatory conditions like lupus.

This analysis suggested that the breakdown was as follows:

• People with both ADHD and autism were 4.38x more likely to have an inherited structural connective tissue disorder and 3.4x likelier to have a hypermobility spectrum disorder,
• People with ADHD only were 1.7x more likely to have an inherited structural connective tissue disorder and 1.48x likelier to have a hypermobility spectrum disorder,
• People with autism only were 3.11x more likely to have an inherited structural connective tissue disorder and 2.03x likelier to have a hypermobility spectrum disorder.

Overall, connective tissue disorders were still relatively rare in these groups – heritable structural disorders were seen in roughly 12 out of 1,000 autism-only patients and 21 per 1,000 patients with both ADHD and autism.

But that’s a big leap from the comparison sample without either ADHD or autism – among those, the disorders appeared in 3 or 4 per 1,000 cases.

Previous research had suggested that “In neurodivergent adults, there is a strong link between the expression of joint hypermobility, dysautonomia, and pain, more so than in the comparison group”.

Some studies have shown that people with the connective tissue disorder Ehlers-Danlos syndrome are more likely to have autism and/or ADHD.

If your heart dropped when you heard the news earlier this week that Dolly Parton had died, you’re likely one of millions with that reaction.

It’s cliché, but it’s true: So many of us are shocked and deeply saddened by the legendary musician’s death. Despite not knowing her, the impact she had was real, and it will live on.

You might be wondering why it hits so hard, especially if you’ve never met her.

Here’s why Dolly’s death may feel more meaningful than the losses of many other celebrities…

Dolly was a wonderful singer and artist, but she was also so much more. She was admirable.

“While Dolly was absolutely a musician with incredible songs and talent, she represented much more than that, e.g., generosity, advocacy, kindness, humour, style, etc.,” said Suzanne Wallach, a licensed psychotherapist and the founder of SoCal DBT Center in Los Angeles.

She didn’t just talk the talk, either

“Dolly Parton publicly funded initiatives on children’s literacy, public health and mental health causes,” said Alexandra Cromer, a licensed therapist with Thriveworks.

“Throughout her extraordinary 80-year life, she did not change or waver on her fundamental message and principles of love, kindness and acceptance for all.”

Those above principles are ones we especially need to see in the world right now, right? That contributes to the grief, too.

“Especially in times like these, when our society feels so divided, we share a collective sadness at the loss of someone who loved without limits and created a common thread between people from different walks of life,” said Golee Abrishami, a psychologist and the vice president of clinical care at Octave.

Plus, there’s the time factor. Her impact spanned decades. It’s hard to forget all of the ways she changed people’s lives.

“Dolly Parton began winning the world over with her charm, beauty, style and vocals as early as the 1960s,” said Sharonda Brown, a licenced professional counsellor who specialises in grief.

“This is well over 60 years of entertainment increasing familiarity and closeness.”

Dolly also brought generations, and therefore families, together.

“Grandparents can belt Jolene with their grandchildren,” Abrishami said. “Gen X and Gen Z alike can enjoy 9 To 5, whether you listened to it more on TikTok or a record.”

People in the LGBTQ+ community may be feeling the loss particularly hard since she was an advocate for them, speaking against anti-LGBTQ+ policies and so much more.

“Especially as a queer individual, Dolly Parton was an American icon,” said Dr. Alice Hoang, a Dolly fan and owner of Brooklyn Mint Dental.

“Her messages resonated with all of us, and the community has admired Dolly throughout her career and everything she did in support of the queer community. Dolly’s messages helped us find out who we were and with purpose.”

Other individuals in the community shared similar sentiments.

“Dolly’s passing hits quite hard today, especially as a gay man from a small Midwest town,” said Nate Brooking, senior executive assistant at Octave. “Her spirit and her music got me through tough times as a child trying to figure out who I was.

“Like many others in the LGBTQIA+ community, she taught me how to be comfortable in myself and to walk proud in the world.”

Regardless of identity, the impact Dolly had on you is undoubtedly real — and that extends to the feelings you experience in the wake of her death.

Simply put by Wallach: “It makes sense that someone who has been woven into our lives in such a big way impacts us when she dies.”

Again, if you’re feeling sad about Dolly’s death, you’re not alone. Social media will tell you that.

Most of us, technically, have a parasocial relationship with her — a one-sided relationship in which she doesn’t know us and there’s an illusion of a face-to-face relationship — but that doesn’t mean your feelings aren’t real and valid.

“Grief isn’t proportional to how well you knew someone,” Wallach explained. “Sometimes we’re grieving the person, but we’re also grieving a time in our own lives that they represent. All of your feelings are real and OK.”

Knowing an experience has a name can be helpful, and what we’re looking at here does. It’s called “collective grief”.

“Collective grief is a shared emotion of pain, sadness and mourning experienced by a community somewhat universally after a loss of a well-known individual or tragic event,” Abrishami said.

That can look like a community grieving the loss of a public official, their homes after a wildfire or a favourite entertainer, Brown added.

That loss and sadness are significant. They speak to who Dolly was.

“Collective grief posits that one person had such a significant impact on society as a whole that their passing affects a large amount of people individually on a very profound emotional level,” Cromer said.

The killers of PC Andrew Harper will not be released early from prison after a major U-turn by Andy Burnham.

The prime minister announced on Sunday morning that anyone convicted of unlawful killing, including manslaughter, will not be eligible for the early release scheme.

Inmates jailed for death by drunk or dangerous driving, and historic child sex offences, will also be excluded from from sentencing changes aimed at freeing up space in England’s overcrowded jails.

Burnham said that meants “hundreds” of inmates who had been due to be let out early will now stay behind bars.

It represents a major climbdown by the prime minister, who had previously said he could not amend the policy because of the risk of prison overcrowding.

At the start of this month, the government announced that rapists and serious child sex offenders would not be eligible for early release.

The PM said he “wanted to go even further”, but couldn’t without the prison system collapsing.

But following an angry backlash from the family of PC Harper, Burnham ordered justice secretary Alex Norris to come up with a way to prevent the early release of two of his killers, Jessie Cole and Albert Bower.

They were convicted of manslaughter for their part in PC Harper’s killing in 2000.

The pair were due to be freed in January under controversial measures to stop prisons running out of spaces.

Downing Street initially said it was “not possible” to exempt “one or two offenders” convicted of manslaughter from the scheme.

But confirming the U-turn, the PM said: “We spent the summer turning over every single single stone.

“We’ve come up with a proposal that will allow not just those guilty of manslaughter, the people involved in the killing of PC Harper, but those who have been convicted for indecent assault, those convicted for death by dangerous driving, all of these offenders now will remain in prison. Hundreds of them.”

Listen to Commons People, the podcast that makes politics easy. Every week, Kevin Schofield and Kate Nicholson unpack the week’s biggest stories to keep you informed. Join us for straightforward analysis of what’s going on at Westminster.

If you want to improve your health and don’t already exercise, starting to do so may be one of the biggest ways to ensure you age well.

Strength training, for instance, can help us live longer, may reduce our risk of dementia, and makes us less likely to fall.

Meanwhile, aerobic training, like jogging, walking, and swimming, is linked to better heart health in older age and might benefit our brains too.

In cases like these, could an injection do some of the work for us?

Maybe, one day, a recent mouse study has suggested.

They found something unexpected during this experiment, though. Speaking to New Scientist, study author Ng Shyh-Chang said: “This thing was contracting under the skin continuously, and we thought, ‘This thing is like non-stop exercise.’”

The scientists then took samples of muscle stem cells from the mice and developed them into contracting muscle cells called myocytes. When they injected those into the animals (dubbed a “myograft”), a patch of tissue with its own blood networks formed near the injection site.

This area stayed pulsing, even when the mice slept.

And that action seemed linked to some of the benefits you’d expect from a heat-pumping workout.

For instance, mice given the graft developed more muscle across their whole bodies, saw better immune function, and appeared to have stronger bones and greater strength in their older age.

What’s more, the “patch” still seemed to be doing its job six months after first injection.

Still, the researchers write, their method offers a “different approach toward [cell and gene-based therapy] CGT for ageing-related chronic diseases”.

We don’t need to tell you this: tech is expensive. Keeping up to date with the latest gadgets can put a serious dent in your wallet, but the price tag doesn’t do much to quell our desires for a new phone.

Especially when one as enticing as the Google Pixel 11 Pro drops.

Available for pre-order now, and to buy from 20 August, the Pixel 11 Pro comes in four shades (Canyon pink, Olive green, Fog blue and Obsidian black).

The phone retails at £1,079, which is up nearly £500 from the Pixel 10. But, good news Google heads: you can get it for less when you trade in an old device.

Eligible devices include phones from Google, Samsung, and Apple, among tons of other brands, so if you’ve been thinking about switching to Google, this is as good a chance as any.

Depending on the phone you’re trading, you could save up to £850, which in case you need a little help with the maths, means your new phone could cost as little as £229. Woah.

When you consider the array of upgrades Google has made from its predecessor, the Pixel 10, that’s an insane steal.

The first Google phone to use its Tensor G6 chip, it’s considerably speedier than the Pixel 10, with Google claiming you’ll see 25% speedier browsing and 3.5 times faster Gemini processing.

Speaking of, the Pixel 11 Pro is loaded with Gemini Intelligence, which can help you with everything from brainstorming to finding information.

The camera is often the most important aspect of a phone (for us, at least) and this one delivers big time. Pixel 11 boasts Google’s longest zoom yet (up to a whopping 120x) and 30% better light sensitivity so your photos always come out looking crisp and sharp.

One of our favourite elements is Magic Capture mode, which means you can simply press a single button to let your phone take over the heavy lifting of taking photos and videos, so you don’t have to think about the best mode to capture the moment.

The offer runs until 1 September, so run, don’t walk – because you could miss out on £850 in savings on the Pixel 11 Pro as well as up to £260 when you trade in a smart watch for the new Google Pixel Watch 5.